How to Create an Email Address

Anyone can have an email address! These days, email is a mandatory part of communication. It's a cheap and easy way to send a message to anyone you know. This article will explain the many easy ways one can obtain an email address from popular email providers.

Things You'll Need

A computer with an internet connection.

Decide what email provider you wish to use for your email service. If you need a personal account for basic email activity, any of the major website email services can provide you with a package that will fit your needs. The major free email providers are Google, Yahoo, and MSN Hotmail. For this article's purposes, we will be using Google's Gmail email service.

In your website's address bar, type www.google.com, and hit "enter." In the top left-hand corner of the page, you will see the words "web", "images", "maps", "news", "shopping", "Gmail", and "more". Click on the word "Gmail." You will be taken to the Google Mail access page. Since you do not have a Gmail account, you will click on the phrase "Sign up for Gmail" that is located on the lower right-hand side of the page.

Enter your first and last name in the boxes, then create your "desired login name." This is the name that will be at the first of your email address. For example, if your name is "Jane Doe" and you want your email address to reflect your name, you would put "JaneDoe" together in the desired log-in box.

Click on the "check availability!" button, to see if anyone else has already claimed your log-in name. If the name isn't available, Google will give you a list of available options that are similar to your requested login name. If you do not agree with any of the recommended log-in names, then be creative by adding your birthday or another set of numbers that is memorable to you. For example, "JaneDoe" may not be available, but "JaneDoe1966" might be up for grabs. Take your time with this step and develop a log-in name that is comfortable and important to you.

Create an email account password. Google requires your passwords to be a minimum of 8 characters in length. You can create a password using letters, numbers, or symbols combined. Passwords are tricky because you don't want to create one that you will forget, but you don't want to have a password that is too easy for others to guess. Do your best to create a "strong" password that will withstand the attempts of potential hackers. A good password that could be virtually "unguessable" by others would be the combination of your grandmother's maiden name and her birth month and year. For example, if your grandmother's maiden name is "Curtis" and her birthday is November 24th, your password could be "curtis1124." Note: if you capitalize any of your password's letters, then you must capitalize it every time you enter it.

Create a "security question." This question might help you out later on, if you've forgotten your password and need help getting new one. Choose a question from the selected questions and plug in your answer. You should write down your question and answer so that you can remember it if need be. The next step is to enter a secondary email address, but if you do not have another email you can leave this spot blank. It is required to email your alternate address in the event you forget your password to this address.

Enter the "word verification" into the box. The letters, numbers or symbols might appear a bit distorted, so be careful to decipher then correctly before you type them into the box. This step is done for security and ensures that you are not a spammer.

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Read through the "terms of service" to make sure you are clear on your accounts requirements. If you agree with the terms, click the button "I accept. Create my account" button. Congratulations! You now have an email address!